Monday, 30 September 2013

It's been quite some time since I've updated my blog (disgraceful!) as I have been sadly adjusting to life away from Manchester. Oh how I miss it...
However, that doesn't mean to say that I've given up making art work. I've been a busy bee with various little bits and pieces, including this (sort of...cut price) commission for a friend of mine. It's one of my favourite things to do, making a 'mini-me' of a pet. I'm determined to make this one extra special as it's to commemorate his pet dog Meg who passed away recently.

I've approached this one slightly different than I usually do when I make my animals. I've begun by making the head separately first. I decided to do this because I wasn't pleased with the head I made for my last made animal (a fox, which I will do a separate post about) and I wish I'd spent more time getting it right before rushing on to the body to get it complete quickly (the body being relatively easier and less fiddly to make well).

When I started bending my wire to make the structure of her face shape, the most important thing seemed to be the muzzle. I used two parallel pieces of wire which form the centre of her face in general, and curve around at the bottom to form the muzzle. Building the rest around that was fairly easy. I quickly got onto the knitted covering and have now got a great idea of how her head will look when it's finished (complete with shaggy-haired ears). It didn't look right at all until I added what will be the eyes. The important decision was whether to use pins or make embroidered eyes. My first instinct was to embroider the eyes on and use a dot of white paint for the shine of them catching the light, as I did with Monty (below).

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However, it became obvious after I stuck a couple of pins in that they were the perfect choice in this case. Meg's eyes are very big and shiny and one of the main reasons why she has such an endearing face! I couldn't achieve that using thread and paint. I will soon be taking some better quality photos of my work in progress, but for now here's a quick peek at how she's looking...